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BMW Oracle Wins the America’s Cup

VALENCIA, Spain (AP) — Still bundled against the cold in his white foul-weather gear, the software tycoon Larry Ellison hoisted the America’s Cup high in the air, then planted a kiss on it, the oldest trophy in international sports.

“Valencia — muchas gracias!” Ellison, a self-made billionaire, screamed after the ride of his life across the Mediterranean on one of the most remarkable boats ever built.

After sitting out the first race because of a weight limit, Ellison, 65, was onboard his trimaran Sunday as the high-tech BMW Oracle, with a gigantic wing for a sail, sped ahead of the two-time defending champion, Alinghi of Switzerland, to complete the two-race sweep.

“I am so proud of this team, I am so proud to be part of this team, and I am especially proud to bring the America’s Cup, once again, after a long absence, back to the United States of America,” said Ellison, the chief executive of Oracle Corporation.

Russell Coutts, the chief executive of BMW Oracle, popped the cork on a magnum of Champagne and sprayed Ellison, as well as the tactician John Kostecki and the skipper-helmsman Jimmy Spithill of Australia.

Blue and silver confetti blew across the stage and fireworks went off across Port America’s Cup, a festive ending to a tumultuous two-and-a-half-year period that dragged the 159-year-old event to one of its lowest points. Ellison and his rival Ernesto Bertarelli had been locked in court since July 2007, and for a while it seemed as if the result of this race was going to be contested off the water.

Alinghi raised a red protest flag on its giant catamaran late on the first leg of the triangle course during the second race, leaving observers wondering what it was about because there was no communication from the boats. The Swiss dropped the protest after the race, confirming Ellison’s win.

Bertarelli was not at the ceremony when the ornate America’s Cup was handed over by the Societe Nautique de Genève to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Yacht Club. Bertarelli, a biotech tycoon, became the first European to win the America’s Cup in 2003 with a victory over Team New Zealand, and retained it against New Zealand in 2007 before the legal fight with Ellison.

“They had a strategy, they got a little help from the legal system in New York, and that always makes it difficult for us Europeans and gave them advantages,” Bertarelli said. “They were faster, good on them.”

The America’s Cup has been away from the United States for 15 years, the longest drought since the schooner America won the Cup by beating a fleet of British ships around the Isle of Wight in 1851. Dennis Conner lost it in 1995 to Team New Zealand and Coutts, now a four-time America’s Cup winner.

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Ellison and Kostecki were the only Americans on BMW Oracle’s crew for the clincher. The massive trimaran was steered by Spithill, who, at 30, was sailing in his fourth America’s Cup.

Ellison’s fortune made the victory possible, but the true star was his monster black-and-white trimaran and its radical 223-foot wing sail, which powered the craft at three times the speed of the wind, sending its windward and middle hulls flying well above the water.

One of the lasting images of this America’s Cup will be that of Spithill, using technology seemingly straight out of “Star Wars,” calmly steering from his airborne helm.

The American trimaran took a 28-second lead rounding the first mark Sunday and powered toward the horizon while sailing across the wind on the second leg. The final margin for two of the fastest, most technologically advanced sailboats ever built was 5 minutes 25 seconds.

“It’s just such an awesome tool for racing,” Spithill said.

Ellison’s victory ended one of the most bitter chapters in the America’s Cup. He and Bertarelli fought over their interpretations of the 1887 Deed of Gift, which governs the America’s Cup.